president obama and his republican rival mitt romney are both getting ready for their first face to face presidential debate in denver wednesday night. romney is holding a rally in the mile-high city today, while the president gears up in nevada. nbc's tracy potts joins us with washington from the latest. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. we get an interesting perspective on this from john mccain. he's debated both the president and mitt romney, and he says we will see two very strong well-prepared debaters and he predicts few surprises. the president's behind closed doors in nevada for the next two days preparing to face mitt romney in denver wednesday. >> he's a good debater. i'm just okay. but what i'm most concerned about is having a serious discussion about what we need to do to keep the country growing. >> reporter: both sides are down playing expectations. a senior aide to the president says romney will be prepared, disciplined and aggressive. romney's debate partner calls the president a tough debater. >> barack obama is going to be formidable and i think it will be a good deb